My Strong Soldier
by FicThisGifAnonContest
Summary: Bella and Alice are Barbers, continuing Charlie's business and carrying out his legacy by giving soldiers encouragement along with their first haircut at Camp Shelby. They were all just faces on a wall; until one wasn't. ExB, AxJ


Gif #: 69

Title: My Strong Soldier

Word count (not including author's notes/header): 3,136

Pairing: Bella/Edward, Alice/Jasper

Rating: T

Summary: Bella and Alice are Barbers, continuing Charlie's business and carrying out his legacy by giving soldiers encouragement along with their first haircut at Camp Shelby. They were all just faces on a wall; until one wasn't.

Warnings (if necessary): None.

**A/N: This is pure fiction. In fact, I am not even sure that any civilian could own a business on a military base without having a distinct government contract. For purposes of this o/s, they can. Please don't throttle me for inaccuracy. The name of the military base is only for setting purposes.**

**Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended.**

**My Strong Soldier **

I hadn't seen Edward in a couple of days. It wasn't unusual, given his training schedule on base. However, when I woke up with this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, I missed him like never before. Instead of getting up to start my day, I laid there, waiting for my alarm to sound, replaying our conversations over the last few months. Words, laughter and warm kisses tumbled through my mind making me curl onto my side and hug my pillow. We had said so much, but kept even more hidden. It was all the things that we hadn't discussed that were clawing at my heart.

I sat up in bed and picked up the picture of my parents from my bedside table. I traced my finger over their smiling faces. They were standing in front of the barber shop, so happy, so alive. It was taken just one week before Dad had his heart attack. They were my example of true love, unending. It was hard to believe that it had been five years since he passed away, my mom going shortly after him. I hugged the picture to my chest before putting it back in it's place.

I'm sure mom and dad would be proud to know that Ally and I had taken over the business. And I'm certain dad would be happier to learn that we were the ones giving the buzz cuts, taking pictures of soldiers for his wall and encouraging them just as he had done for years. I smiled, remembering how he always said "once a soldier, always a soldier." He believed it was his duty, while giving them the standard military buzz cut, to make sure they felt honor and courage for the job they had signed on to do.

As I made my way to the bathroom, I heard Ally slamming doors and filling the coffee pot in the kitchen. Today was just another day. We had a job to do, but for some reason I couldn't shake off the quiet loneliness that had taken over my morning. It caused me to second guess everything I did, as if one wrong move would turn everything upside down. I drank my coffee and stared out the shop window. I realized that no matter how long I spent thinking about yesterdays and tomorrows, that weird feeling still weighed heavy on my heart. As the morning passed, Ally noticed it too.

"What's up, Bella? You look like you don't feel well." Ally eyed me over a magazine as I spun my barber chair. We hadn't had any recruits in this morning and the traffic outside the shop was eerily calm too. Of course, this only added to my anxiety.

"I don't know. Something's wrong with me today."

"Something's wrong with you every day." She always knew how to get a smile out of me.

"Huh?" I laughed and tossed a wet towel at her head. "What?"

Alice, my cousin, ran away at sixteen and showed up on our doorstep eight years looks on Charlie and Renee's faces were priceless as Alice begged for them to adopt her. They could have laughed and called her parents to drag her home. But they didn't, they took the teenage drama in stride. When Dad contacted his brother to let him know Alice was safe, he got the answering machine. He knew then that Alice deserved better. Several days later, when my dad finally got a return call from Uncle Alec, he didn't hesitate to tell him just how shitty he thought he was. So, for ten years, she had been more than just my cousin. She was my sister. We were still giggling when the bell over the shop door sounded and put a stop to our towel fight.

"Hey, where've you been the last few days? Ally's been killing me at darts. I need my partner," I called out. My heart skipped a beat as Edward took off his cap, waved to Ally and walked slowly towards me wearing his familiar tan camo pants and matching shirt. Jasper trailed behind him through the door and over to where Ally was sitting.

Edward's smile was weak and didn't hide whatever was going on behind his eyes. Something was wrong and the closer he got to me, the more hollow I felt. The day I had been dreading since I met him and the most inevitable of all things here at Camp Shelby, was now happening to someone I had let myself get attached to. It was happening to us. This was why I tried so hard to never get attached to any of the servicemen. But this one, he was different. I let him in and now he was shipping out.

"Just been busy with work. Training." He exhaled trying to placate me with only a half smile. As if that could make this hurt any less for either us. "Bella, I - I got my orders today." The words left his lips in a whisper. Even though I had heard those words hundreds of times, they never caused the gaping wound that was now tearing open my heart.

_**No. No. No.**_

I heard Ally gasp from across the room. The pained look on Jasper's face told me that he was delivering the same news.

I straightened my shoulders and took a deep breath, summoning all the strength I had because there was no way that I could send him away feeling guilty. Dad always made them feel proud. He encouraged them. He told them that when they returned to Camp Shelby, they had to come back to the shop and take their picture down from the wall themselves. Otherwise, they would leave us all wondering about them for years. Dad would never find out just how different this one was. But I gathered my courage to speak so that Edward wouldn't have to leave feeling any regret for choosing such an honorable career.

"Okay." I bobbed my head and tried to smile through the tears that started to spill from my eyes. "It was bound to happen, right? I mean...this is your job, it's why you're here. It's what you live for. To serve, right?" He looked down, twisting and gripping the bill of his cap in his hands. My eyes landed on his polaroid on the wall and I wiped away a stray tear.

"It was what I lived for." He sighed and rubbed his hand over his head.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. You're right, I mean...this is my life, my job. I..."

"And this is mine. We do what we have to do." I squeezed his arm. He smiled, still looking down at his hat.

_**Don't go, please. We only just started being an 'us'.**_

Without thinking, I threw my arms around his neck. He pulled me tighter, lifting me just enough so our noses were touching.[a] I could barely see the wrinkles form at the edge of his eyes as he smiled, but I brought my fingers up to touch them. I needed to memorize everything about him, especially that smile. I closed my eyes and breathed him in, willing the tears to stop as my forehead rested against his.

"I'm gonna miss you. Do you know that?" he whispered into my hair. He traced his lips across my cheek to the corner of my mouth. Then, he raised his head just enough to ghost his his warm lips across mine, before he parted his lips and tilted his head slightly to deepen the kiss. I surrendered to the feelings I held in my heart, hidden away to protect him. We kissed, slow and sweet. He tasted like honey and sadness, as he nipped and sucked at my bottom lip, placing tiny kisses on my chin and nose.

_**It's too much. I'm not supposed to get this close to a soldier. They're only here for a short time. They always leave. **_

I held on for dear life, knowing I would soon have to let him go. I knew we were standing in the middle of the barber shop; I faintly heard catcalls from the other guys that had walked in the door. But, at that moment, I could only focus on him, on his eyes, glassy like mine, as he slowly set me down to my feet. His beautiful face was tear streaked and splotchy. I traced my fingers along the trail a tear had left behind.

"So when do you leave?" I choked out the words I wasn't ready to hear the answer to.

"I have to report to Biloxi at oh eight hundred tomorrow," he sighed and gripped my hip, tugging me closer.

"I see." I stole another breath, gaining courage from somewhere deep inside. "This is it then?"

"Yeah."

"You know what? You'll go, you'll do your job, give 110%, then you'll come back here and get your picture off this wall." I put my fingers to my lips, trying desperately to hold back the sob that wanted to escape. "You have to get your picture off that wall, dammit! You hear me? Do you hear me, Edward? You have to. You just have to!" I screamed and pounded my fists into his chest. I cried aloud, my chest heaving and searching for air when he wrapped his hand around the back of my head and pulled me to his chest.

"Shhh, baby, please. Don't do this. I can't leave you like this. Please."

We stood there holding each other while I tried to pull myself together. I couldn't fathom having to remove his picture from the wall in the shop like we had done so many times before when we received news of a soldier's death. He just had to come back. I wasn't ready to die that death with him. The ticking of the clock on the wall was a stale reminder that this was really happening and he probably had only minutes to get back to work.

I leaned back to look into his eyes. "I guess you can't stay for awhile." It wasn't a question. My heart just knew that he would have to walk out that door quicker than I wanted him to. I grabbed at my chest to stop the ache, as I pulled away from his arms, wiping away tears that wouldn't stop falling.

"No. I want to more than anything, but I have intelligence briefings all afternoon and tonight. There's a lot of paperwork to finish going through before tomorrow," he spoke just above a whisper as he wiped his eyes with the backs of his hands.

_**My strong soldier**_.

It was time for him to go. It was best it happened this way. Like ripping off a band-aid with one swift pull. I had to shove my hands in my pockets to keep from clawing at him to stay because I doubted there would ever be a bandage big enough to cover the wound on my heart.

I let out an unsteady breath and noticed Ally wiping away tears of her own as she continued to talk with Jasper. The three guys who came in earlier, sat quietly in chairs near the door as they waited for their standard-issue buzz cut. I smiled, it was one of those surreal moments and it took me back to the first day Edward and Jasper came in. "Fresh off the bus" I had called them. I couldn't help but chuckle as I wiped away the last of my tears and shook my head.

"What are you thinking?" He grinned.

"Just remembering your first haircut." He looked over his shoulder at the new recruits and laughed. It had only been several months since he sat in the same chair, full of hope, yet wondering where he would go from there. When the expression on his face went from daylight to dark, I knew that the realness of this life had just slapped him in the face once again. He turned back to look at me, pausing, looking into my soul with those beautiful eyes.

"Don't miss me, Bella." He wrapped his hand around my neck and brought his forehead down to mine. "I love you too much to think of you like that."

"Then come back to me. Promise?"

"I promise."

"I love you so much." I let my head fall to his shoulder.

He placed a kiss on my head, then one on my lips when I tilted my head up to look at him one last time. He smiled, tugging on my fingers as he turned to walk away. "Bye, Ally. See you soon."

"Bye, Edward. You guys be safe. Bring Jasper back to me, you hear?"

"Always, Ally. And I definitely will," he called out as he reached the door and turned. Locking eyes with me from across the room, he placed the green cap back on his head. My face broke into the happiest smile I could muster given the circumstances. I wanted him to leave knowing that I was proud of him. He had to know that. He didn't deserve any more tears.

I watched from my spot near my chair as his lips turned up into that dazzling smile I had come to love, the one that breathed happy endings. Wearing a crooked grin, he brought his right hand up to his forehead, gave me a two finger salute, then brought his fingers back to his lips before he turned and left the shop. It wasn't until he was halfway across the street that I realized I had brought my fingers to my lips as well. I let myself absorb the last of his warmth, his kisses, his love, hoping I would feel them again soon. That moment would forever be branded on my heart.

.

.

.

I stared out the window for the longest time after Jasper left. Looking for what, I didn't know. I had even forgotten we had customers. I sighed and turned, just as Alice finished the last of the three new guys' haircuts, and began wiping them down to get the hair off their shirts. I reached under the counter at my station and grabbed the polaroid camera.

It was tradition, Charlie's tradition. He said it was good luck and gave these boys something to think about. He said, in some small way, it let them know that someone was waiting for them to come back. So many joined with no family support, or with thoughts that they had nothing worth returning for if they got deployed. He drilled into me that we should always send them away feeling proud, which was why we displayed their photos all over the shop walls. It was our own "wall of fame" as he called it. When they were sitting in the dark somewhere, unable to sleep, cold or just weary, there would be some small memory of something good worth doing as soon as they returned.

The guys always laughed as I explained the story of our wall of fame and Charlie's vision for encouragement. But sometimes, behind that laughter, I could see truth. It was those times when I knew Charlie was right. These guys would take this memory with them.

As I snapped their photos and waited for them to develop, I looked out the front window as a large covered truck passed by. I suddenly remembered a day when I was about 15 years old, standing in front of that same window with my mom. For whatever reason, she always got a little teary-eyed when we watched the men and women load the trucks and climb aboard as they left for field training. I think it had to do with the fact that my dad was drafted during the Vietnam War and she also had to let him go...for a time anyway.

"_I need you to remember something, baby girl." She smiled, putting her arm around my shoulder and pulling me close. "The good ones always come back." _

I shook my head, dragging myself from that memory, because I knew it was a gentle lie she told a fifteen year old who had no concept of the reality of military life. The sad truth I have learned is that so many good ones don't come back. Over the years, I've watched as those kinds of trucks were unloaded too. Those days were the saddest of days as I watched my dad remove the pictures one by one. Faces of boys that would never set foot in here again. Brave sons, husbands and brothers, fighting so we didn't have to. As the smiling faces in the photos I just took began to become clear, I let out a staggering breath.

After putting their photos on the wall, Ally and I stood back, just to take a look. We always did this after we added new pictures. Laughing, pointing out funny things about the soldiers we could really remember seemed to lighten the deadness of the air that filled the shop after Edward and Jasper left.

"Remember what Momma said? The good ones always come back." Ally gripped my hand at my side.

"I know. But you and I both know that isn't true, Ally." My eyes were immediately drawn to his picture on the wall.

"But it has to be for us, Bella. Jasper and Edward will be back. We have to believe that." She paused. "Because if we don't believe it, how can we convince them, huh?" She nodded her head in the direction of the two guys who had just walked through the door and were standing near the front eyeing the pictures on the wall.

"Then I believe it." My life depended on it. He was out there somewhere, and he had to come back.

"I believe it, too. All that's left to do is to wait. Waiting...we can do." She grinned and gave me a quick hug before she introduced us to the boys by the door and instructed them where to sit.

I wanted to cry and wallow because Edward left. My heart, and my head, told me that was what I should do. But I couldn't, because I had a job to do. Just like Edward had a job to do. As the young man got seated in my chair, I looked over my shoulder at Alice. She nodded and gave me a reassuring smile. Then she and I did exactly what we did every day. We gave buzz cuts to boys that would become men. Men that fought for the freedom of others, without regard for their own lives. And before they left, we took their pictures so they would always know that someone remembered.


End file.
